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APRIL 9
21 And He strictly warned and commanded
them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of
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Man must suffer many things, and be rejected
by the elders and chief priests and scribes, 9:29 As He prayed. As at Jesus’baptism,while
and be killed, and be raised the third day.” He was praying, the Father’s voice came from
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires heaven. glistening. Literally, “emitting light.”
to come after Me, let him deny himself, and This word is used only here in the New
Testament.It suggests a brilliant flashing light,
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take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For similar to lightning.
whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
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25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the about to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter
whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? and those with him were heavy with sleep; and
26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My when they were fully awake, they saw His
words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed glory and the two men who stood with Him.
when He comes in His own glory, and in His 33 Then it happened, as they were parting from
Father’s, and of the holy angels. Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is
27 “But I tell you truly, there are some stand- good for us to be here; and let us make three
ing here who shall not taste death till they see tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and
the kingdom of God.” one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.
28 Now it came to pass, about eight days after 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came
these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and and overshadowed them; and they were fear-
James and went up on the mountain to pray. ful as they entered the cloud. And a voice
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29 As He prayed, the appearance of His face was came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My
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altered, and His robe became white and glis- beloved Son. Hear Him!” When the voice had
tening. And behold, two men talked with Him, ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept
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who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in quiet, and told no one in those days any of the
glory and spoke of His decease which He was things they had seen.
DAY 8:Why did God bless Rahab the prostitute?
Rahab’s life was not spared because of her lie. It was spared because she put her faith in God.
Rahab was given a gracious opportunity to side with God by protecting the two Israelite spies,and she
acted within her circumstances.She lied daringly and elaborately.Perhaps her initial response was sim-
ply a habit of her profession.From the perspective of the king of Jericho,Rahab would have been guilty
of treason, not just lying. She had a new allegiance, and she didn’t yet know that the God she now
wanted to trust had a rule about lying.
While those around her feared what the God of Israel might do,Rahab feared enough to boldly trust
Him as the one true God,“for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath”
(2:11b).She understood that God wasn’t a local or a national god.She knew enough to act.
The spies were impressed and indebted.When Rahab asked them for protection,they recognized
their obligation.They were exact in promising to preserve the lives of those in her house,indicated by
the scarlet cord from the window.
The radical change that came into Rahab’s life when those spies knocked on her door can be seen
in several ways.She risked her life to trust God.The Book of Ruth,along with Matthew 1:5,also reveals
that Rahab married and became the great-great-grandmother of King David and one of the ancestors
of Jesus.Centuries later,Rahab was one of the women listed in Hebrews 11 because of her faith.

April 9 LORD burned against the children of Israel.
Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai,
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which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of
Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up
Joshua 7:1–8:35
and spy out the country.” So the men went up
But the children of Israel committed a and spied out Ai. And they returned to
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7 trespass regarding the accursed things, Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the peo-
for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, ple go up, but let about two or three thousand
the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the
the accursed things; so the anger of the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” So
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